In a statement, APSCC Chairman Jagmohan Singh Raina said that the administration should conduct the GPC elections within three months, but before this, an audit should be carried out of the accounts and properties of the different GPCs. Raina said that the present Gurdwara Endowment Act of Jammu & Kashmir is “obsolete and needs to be replaced”.
“The present Gurdwara Endowment Act has lost its relevance with the passage of time and it needs to be replaced. The Delhi Model would be quite appropriate and if it is implemented in Jammu & Kashmir then the present loopholes would be overcome. The present dispensation should look into this aspect,” said the APSCC Chairman.
Raina said that if the government wants to create nominated bodies instead of extending the time of elected members of GPCs it is imperative to audit the district gurdwara committees before relieving them. He said that all these gurdwara committees are bound to hand over the accounts and property details to the gurudwara sahib and added that they are answerable to the public in case some irregularity is found out.
He said the entire community is concerned about the recent developments after the government decided to hand over the management of Sikh shrines, historical gurdwara, and properties attached to nominated members till gurdwara elections.
“The community members under the ambit of various Sikh organizations in both Kashmir and Jammu divisions demand elections under Gurdwara Endowment Act by continuing and extending the three months period of elected district gurdwara committees,” said the APSCC Chairman, ” he added.
The APSCC Chairman further said that “many individuals have manipulated to grab the property of various district gurdwaras and many properties have fallen under litigation and unscrupulous elements maintain relations with government officials and higher-ups so as to keep their influence for vested interests”. He said that this should not happen in the future and assets of the community be properly protected.
Sikh leaders like Ajeet Singh Mastana, President J&K Punjabi Sahitya Sabha, Principal Naranjan Singh, former President GPC Pulwama, Hakumat Singh, ZEO & former general secretary GPC Budgam, Dr. Joginder Singh Shan, President GPC Pulwama, Rajinder Singh, President Sikh Students Federation and others including Sant Singh, Indumeet Singh, and Davinder Singh also demanded a thorough government audit on the cash and kind of all gurdwaras in Jammu & Kashmir. They demanded “enforcement of the code of conduct since the GPC elections are not far away”.